Marron Glacé - Candied Chestnut Treats

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4.67 from 3 votes

Marron Glacé - Candied Chestnut Treats

Marron Glacé won't break! Try this recipe of delicious candied chestnuts treats from Northern Italy and France.

Prep Time30

Cook Time30

Candying Time5

Total Time5 1

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French, Italian

Servings:

Calories: 132kcal

Author: Svi

Ingredients

1 lb chestnuts peeled or 2 lb chestnuts with shells
1 lb sugar
2 cups water
1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Day 1

Score Chestnuts using a chestnut knife: Stick the tip of the knife blade at the bottom of the chestnut on the side. Slit the chestnuts up through the pointed top of the chestnut down again to the bottom, making kind of a vertical “U” cut. Go deep enough inside the chestnut with the knife blade to cut through the inner skin, but PAY ATTENTION not to go too deep to avoid cutting the chestnut pulp. It takes practice but eventually, you'll get a hang of it.
If you don't have a chestnut knife, score Chestnuts using a small pairing knife: Make a long slit cut across the rounded side of a chestnut. Try to cut through the inner skin but avoid cutting the chestnut pulp.
Soak scored chestnuts in a bowl filled with warm water for 30-60 minutes.
Bring a pot with water to a boil. Add 5-8 chestnuts, once water comes to a boil again boil for 5 minutes.
Transfer to a bowl lined with kitchen towel and cover to help chestnuts steam. You'll notice how they'll start to open even more. Start peeling chestnuts immediately removing both hard shell and thin inner skin. Make sure to keep the rest of the chestnuts covered with a kitchen towel.
While peeling the first batch of chestnuts, wait for the water to come a boil again and parboil the second batch of chestnuts. for 5 minutes.
Repeat the process with the remaining chestnuts.
Weight peeled chestnuts making sure to discard any bad ones. You can still use broken pieces for candying, they're perfect for tasting. The weight of the chestnuts is how much sugar and water you'll need by weight.
The ratio for chestnuts, sugar and water is 1:1:1.
Cut gauze, tulle or cheesecloth into large squares.
Put two chestnuts together with their flat sides touching and wrap them tightly into a little bundle. Make sure to make a double knot so they won't fall apart during various stages of candying.
Select a pot that will fit all chestnuts, preferably in a single layer. Mix sugar, water and vanilla extra or vanilla pod (slit in half and seeds scraped out), bring to a boil.
Once syrup comes to a boil arrange chestnut bundles in the pot. Make sure they're covered with syrup. If not, prepare a little more sugar syrup in a separate pot (always 1:1 sugar and water ratio) and add to the pot with chestnuts.
Bring syrup with chestnuts to a boil and once boiling cook for 14-15 minutes with a lid slightly open. Turn the heat off, leave the lid half open and let chestnuts cool in syrup until the next day.

Day 2

Using a pair of thongs remove chestnuts from the syrup. Bring it to a boil, place back chestnut bundles, wait for a boil, cooked for 1 minute and turn of the heat. Let cool until the next day.

Day 3

Repeat the boiling and cooling process.

Day 4

Repeat the boiling and cooling process.

Day 5

Repeat the boiling and cooling process for the last time. Once chestnuts are completely cool, drain chestnuts still wrapped in gauze using a colander. Maker sure to save all the syrup.
Carefully cut off the knots and remove chestnuts from gauze.
Place candied chestnuts on a cooling rack with parchment paper placed underneath for easy cleaning.

Glaze

Syrup Glaze (a) - leave chestnuts as is after removing them from the syrup. Any remaining syrup will dry creating a simple glaze.
Opaque Glaze (b) - take a few tablespoons of the syrup chestnuts were cooked in and mix it with with powdered sugar until you get a runny paste. Deep each chestnuts in the glaze and place on a wire rack to dry.
Shiny Glaze (c) - same as the previous one, marron glacce syrup mixed with powdered sugar, but in this case instead of air-drying place glazed chestnuts on a baking sheet lines with parchment paper and dry in a preheated to 392 F (200C) oven with fan-forced for 2 minutes. Then transfer on a wire rack and let cool until dry.

Notes

See the Step By Step Pictures for a visual walk-through of the recipe and extra visual clues.

Extra Tips:

The sugar syrup will become thicker and reduce each day but chestnuts should stay covered in syrup at all times. If needed prepare 1:1 sugar water syrup and add to the pot with candied chestnuts. Don't add much, just enough to cover the chestnuts. For this reason it's best to use a pot that would fit all chestnuts in a single layer or or two full layers.
Use an old pot or pot that’s easy to and safe to scrub and clean for boiling chestnuts before peeling them. Don’t use ceramic coated pot or casserole. Chestnut shells will pigment the water and the pot.
If you end up having some broken chestnuts don’t worry - the broken pieces don’t look pretty but they taste equally delicious.
Facilitate scoring chestnuts by placing them in a bowl of water and let soak for 30 minutes before scoring.
Don’t throw away leftover sugar syrup. Instead, use it to sweeten drinks, use as a sauce for pancakes, crepes, ice-cream and even as a glaze for a bundt cake.

Note: After years of making Marron Glacé and having a moderate percentage of chestnut breakage, I've adopted a technique used in commercial production of Marron Glace. This reduced chestnut breakage to minimal or none at all! Hence the recipe was updated in December, 2024 to reflect the new technique that I highly recommend.

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